In the Per Capita Cup, a country’s population is divided by the number of GSN points scored, to calculate how many people a country needs to score one GSN point.

Remarkably, the top three countries in the Per Capita Cup are currently all in the top six of the Global Cup. In sport too, small can sometimes be beautiful.

By the end of June last year, Norway had scored nearly 70% of the points it scored in the year. Assuming roughly the same proportion in 2018, it could end the year at the 3,000-Norwegians-per-point mark (it’s currently on 4,199). For Switzerland to beat Norway, it would have to score in 2018 more than double the total point tally it scored last year, which is very unlikely.

Also unlikely is that New Zealand, one of the past winners of the Per Capita Cup and currently in 7th place, will catch up with Norway. The Kiwis would need to finish the year with approximately 68% more points than last year in order to do so. In a Rugby World Cup year, this might have been on the cards, but the next Rugby World Cup is in 2019, so New Zealand would have to do something extraordinary to upstage Norway.

Of the other super sporty countries, Slovenia, winner of the Per Capita Cup in 2014 and second in 2017, might also have an outside chance to threaten Norway for the title. It will have to do very well at, among other tournaments, the Women’s Basketball World Championships in September, especially since there will be no world championship this year in Handball, a sport in which Slovenia traditionally excels, and was the country’s top sport in 2017 and 2016.